F1. Las Vegas 2025 Review
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By Gavin Huet, Chelsea Wintle, Graeme Woolf, Aiden McLaughlin and Joshua Arbury
Driver of the Weekend
Gavin: Kimi Antonelli starting in seventeenth and ended on the podium in third (well, not actually on the podium because, you know…). He held off Oscar Piastri at the end of the race and even though he had a five second penalty for jumping the start and being on very old tyres he still looked in control and never really under any pressure. The best rookie this season.
Graeme: I was going to say that Terry Crews fella who drove the Lego Cadillac after the race is my Driver of the Weekend, as no one else really stood out. Kimi Antonelli would be the closest actual driver, but all he did was benefit from a wise tyre strategy that his team came up with. Carlos Sainz was also excellent to stay just behind the top drivers and finish in 5 th after disqualifications.
Joshua: 100% Kimi Antonelli. I have to say a few weeks ago I was really worried about him. It seemed like Mercedes might have caught the Red Bull disease in advancing someone too quickly. But over the past few grand prix he has really shown us what Toto Wolfe saw in him. I’ll discount his poor performance in qualifying as that was a real lottery in the conditions (Lewis P20, I rest my case). Then it was just so impressive to see hom come from P17 to P3 (via P4 then P5) in the race, through a crazy strategy that saw him on way older tyres than everyone else – still setting his fastest laps way into the race and holding off Piastri. This guy will win the world championship one day for sure.
Chelsea: Max Verstappen again proved how marvellous he is, and this time in direct contrast with championship rival Lando Norris off the start. Norris started well by covering off Verstappen but immediately made a mistake, veering wide on Turn 1 and losing two places. Verstappen coolly took the lead and showed no signs of relinquishing it. Fantastic work.
Aiden: Kimi Antonelli’s rookie blues seem to be a thing of the past. Yes, he may have qualified in P17 and rolled forward by the barest of margins at the start (earning him a five-second penalty) but he more than made up for it, getting to P13 shortly after the start, before pitting under a virtual safety car and driving almost the whole race on a hard set of tyres. He finished fifth on track despite the penalty and was promoted to third after both McLarens were disqualified. Understandably, Toto Wolff called it his best race of the season, because it was.
Talking Points
Gavin: Both McLarens disqualified which means Max Verstappen is on the same points as Oscar Piastri and only 24 points behind Lando Norris, with two rounds left! Surely he’s not going to do it, or will he? Just imagine if Red Bull had actually been competitive in the first half of the year when Christian Horner was still in charge. Did McLaren stop the updates to their 2025 car too soon? Are the rumours about a technical infringement on those planks true? And will this have cost them a Drivers title?
Graeme: Seeing the race was so boring, after the first corner, I’m glad that we finally got a talking point late into Sunday night (NZ time). Two disqualifications to McLaren for a minor rule breach found in post- race scrutineering has made things interesting. Maybe things would’ve been different if Lando Norris had just raced from the front instead of cutting in front of Max Verstappen at the first corner. I’m not sure what he was thinking, when he should’ve just backed himself after starting on pole. If he’d have done that, the Championship would now be pretty much his.
Joshua: Will get to McLaren double DSQ in a minute, but let’s start with how stupid RB were in not pitting Liam Lawson at the end of lap 1 after he had already clearly damaged his front wing. They keep him out and then the wing gets stuck under the car and immediately Lawson’s race is ruined by having to trundle around the whole 2nd lap. After another solid qualifying session and with his seat still uncertain for next year, that was infuriating.
Also, how were there marshals on the track again? Surely after Mexico they would have looked at procedures and made sure it didn’t happen again.
And finally, how cool was it to see the full wet tyres again? I literally can’t remember the last time they were the right tyre choice. I love how dumb the wet tyres are, almost never the right option because it’s either intermediate tyres or red flag – but somehow Q1 and Q2 found the tiniest little niche ever and we got to see those lovely blue tyres again.
Chelsea: Sunday night, race done, nightcap on, and I thought to have one last check of the driver standings. Imagine my surprise to find an entirely different podium to the one I’d seen only hours before? McLaren suffering a double disqualification changed the entire race weekend long after viewers had switched off. Found to have rear skid blocks below minimum thickness, Norris and Piastri took home precisely zero points each. This leaves Norris on 390 championship points with Piastri and Verstappen equal on 366. Tasty! All cars undergo some level of post-race scrutiny (eg, fuel sample checks) but only a lucky few are chosen for the more in-depth analysis that results in penalties like this one, so my expert analysis says it basically sucks to be them.
Aiden: The phrase ‘as thick as two short planks’ has never seemed so appropriate. McLaren can blame the track or the changing weather conditions, but the other nine teams didn’t make a misjudgment like the Papaya outfit. Ironically it’s actually helped Oscar Piastri in one sense – instead of being 30 points behind Lando Norris, the gap is now 24 points. But more significantly, Max Verstappen is now level with the Australian. It’s still going to take an Ashes type collapse from the championship leader to see him lose the title from here, but expect Travis Head type bravery from the four-time world champion as we head into the final two weekends of the season.
Gossip Time
Gavin: With two races to go attention is starting to focus on which seats are available next year and who is going to vacate them. Yuki Tsunoda must be fearing for his F1 future, he has not delivered anything of note since replacing Liam Lawson alongside Max Verstappen. Even changing the power unit before the race did not help in any way. And yes we know it is the car and how it drives but surely he should be more competitive and at least getting some points. Meanwhile Liam seems to drive around with a giant magnet that attracts “racing incidents” every single week, I fear his time in F1 must be over soon as he has just not made any inroads and does not have the financial backing to get a seat anywhere else. Colapinto has not done any better than Jack Doohan but has financial backing so he should be fine, whilst Bortaletto has not set the track alight he has for the most part kept out of trouble and showed competitiveness. Isack Hadjar has had a great season so far and alongside Kimi Antonelli should be safe. So at least two seats should be available, both in the Red Bull stable so we can assume they will botch some more careers before too long.
Graeme: I see talk of Vegas being signed up till the mid 2030’s as a race weekend destination. But for me, Vegas seems like a bit of a gimmick. It’s all a bit tacky. It’s on late at night, momentum is lost after the race as the driver interviews are around the other side of the track by the fountain, the Micky Mouse / fountain show right after that. It’s all a bit skewed away from the actual racing for me. Also, the random actor dude who was at the interviews for no apparent reason. I don’t care who he is, or the fact that he loves what they do and admires them. Go away mate, you should have no part of the post-race interviews.
Joshua: Will 0.12mm cost Lando Norris the world championship? Immediately after the race I thought the driver’s championship was done and dusted, so at least for entertainment value I was delighted to find out both McLarens had been disqualified for excessive plank wear.
In a way I thought something was a bit weird during the race with so many sparks coming off Piastri’s car and then Lando’s incredibly slow last few laps (not that we saw any of them??) It was also kinda hilarious to see Oscar’s smug smile as he left the steward’s room. Next year’s Drive to Survive is going to be wild.
Chelsea: Never is Martin Brundle missed more on a race weekend than on the grid walk, which I suspect will have to be completely scrapped when he retires. The Sky crew, with few exceptions, are an extremely likeable bunch but the feature simply does not work without him. In good news, there is always Terry Crews singing Vanessa Carlton covers while chauffeuring the drivers (complete with novelty sunglasses) to the podium. I’m not too uptight to enjoy that.
Aiden: Christian Horner and Adrian Newey went to see Oasis together! Ok, that’s not the gossip. But what it does mean is that they are getting on much better again and with Aston Martin CEO Andy Cowell’s job security looking about as likely as Lewis Hamilton’s desire to become an Italian citizen, Horner may well be about to find his way back into Formula One. If you think about it, he’d be a perfect replacement given that he was in charge of a one-driver team for so long, with the second driver often bankrolled into his seat. Don’t look back in anger Christian, just roll with it.
Looking Ahead
Gavin: Qatar is next up and the circling shark that is Max is homing in on that final killing blow. Does Lando Norris have the racecraft and ability to hold off the challenge, because it does not look like his car has? This one is going to go down to the wire and I have a sneaky suspicion Max is going to eat into that lead even more. Mercedes is looking good for second in the Constructors and even Red Bull are going to do better than Ferrari even though they effectively only have one driver. I think Lewis Hamilton will announce his retirement before the summer break next season.
Graeme: I said it in my last review and I’ll say it again. I wanted the Championship to come down to the wire and thanks to McLarens disqualification’s, we’ve got ourselves a close Championship race heading into the final 2 weekends. All it needs is for Lando Norris to make an error or crash out of the next race and it’s anyone’s. That heaps the pressure on the Brit. Max Verstappen must be loving the fact that he’s still in with a decent shot of becoming Champion again and Lando will have Max living rent free in his head all weekend next week in Qatar.
Joshua: Back to stupidly timed races for us in New Zealand as we head to the Middle East to finish the season, starting with another cloned desert track night race at Qatar.
We’re now on match point for the championship, with Max and Oscar basically needing to beat Lando to stay in the contest. I’m hoping for a scenario where all three drivers have a genuine chance of winning the championship in Abu Dhabi so an Oscar/Max 1-2 with Lando failing to finish is probably the ideal result – from an entertainment perspective.
Also the race for 2nd in the constructors championship is still fairly tight, but who cares about the constructor’s championship really?
Chelsea: With only two races to go, plus a small-but-mighty pocket of points available from the Qatar sprint race, the mathematical permutations around the driver’s championship are still a bit dizzying. To simplify entirely: for Verstappen or Piastri to take the crown, they need to win both remaining races, and keep Norris in 4th position or lower. I think. Of the three, Verstappen is the only one seemingly immune to internal conflict or self-doubt. If Verstappen’s car delivers – as it has been of late – Verstappen delivers. You’d be mad to count him out.
Aiden: Ah yes, it’s that time of the year that we go back to that wonderfully accepting part of the world, Qatar. With more sports washing than any amount of Persil could deal with, it’s another example of F1’s pursuit of the biggest cheque it can get its hands on. Meanwhile, the top three in the championship simply have to bring their A games on the track. As the drivers would have heard multiple times in Vegas last weekend, it’s showtime.
